


Stories of the Second Self: From the Ashes

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [83]
Category: National Guard - Fandom, Urban Fantasy - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:27:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22569376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Columbus, Ohio was in ruins. Jerrod Connor and other werewolves of his National Guard team stare at the shattered city in shock and realization that their combat action is partly responsible. Then, Jerrod and the others are approached by a Guardsman giant with captain's bars named Paul Appelbaum. Captain Appelbaum explained that he's an intelligence officer and needs details on the magic used on Jerrod's unit during the operation.
Series: Alter Idem [83]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: From the Ashes

"My god, Jerrod," Tanner breathed at the sight from afar. "What did we do?"

Covered in grime, dust, and smoke, Jerrod surveyed the ruins of Columbus Ohio. The battle for the city lasted a total of four months, and was the most grueling combat any unit in the Ohio National Guard faced throughout the occupation.

Wanting to refuse responsibility, Jerrod knew better by now, though still shook his head. "We did the worst necessary."

Tanner and Leonard, who were 37th Wild Strike werewolf infantry like Jerrod, were sitting on the same crumbled slab of concrete Jerrod was. They both looked at him with disbelief.

"I don't know what was worse," Leonard said, "The fundamentalist christians, the militant tree huggers, or the vampire cults once the hippies and Jesus-freaks were put down."

Sergeant Wells turned up and looked the three of them over. That face Wells had when he was about to hand out a detail vanished to be replaced by sympathy. "You guys doin' alright?"

"No," Jerrod answered, then felt his facade crack and the tears roll.

Sitting next to Jerrod, Sergeant Wells put an arm around Jerrod shoulder, and Leonard did likewise from the other side. Through blurring tears, Jerrod just stared at the ruins.

More than half of the buildings were leveled, and the remaining stood as shattered hulks, like architectural representations of decapitations and missing limbs. The blue flames that consumed all things unnatural were replaced with more equal opportunity smoldering fires under tons of rubble and from obliterated vehicles.

Guardsmen and federal troops set themselves to the task of recovering the dead or salvaging equipment. Bodies of Gaia cultists came up in pieces by soldiers' hands, for they had insisted on wearing no protection. Nature magic was to save them, yet even shielding spells could only take so much from 5.56 millimeter rounds, fifty caliber slugs, and larger munitions from artillery and giants.

Every so often, a singeing was heard when a vampire's corpse was discovered and exposed to morning light. The closest thing to proper burial for those the Guard fought were mass funeral pyres spurred on with generous amounts of kerosin.

Jerrod had little difficulty spotting military intelligence operators. They wore digital camouflage like everyone else, but they were physically clean to the point their uniforms were freshly ironed. As other soldiers uncovered the bodies of combatants the intel guys would scour them for whatever artifacts or charms the Gaia followers or vampires had employed in the battle.

One operative stood out among the rest, especially for being more than twice as tall. He approached Jerrod's team and Sergeant Wells. After taking a knee opposite of the Wild Strikers, the giant with captain's bars took off his huge helmet and set his 20 millimeter cannon against jutting cement wall fragments.

"Leonard, how's your leg?" the giant asked.

"Do I know you, sir?" Leonard asked, who like the rest hadn't stood and saluted.

"Captain Paul Appelbaum, Ohio Guard Special Information Group," the giant introduced himself with a baritone voice, and added, "We did an air assault drop together onto a suburb outside Cincinnati."

Wiping away tears, Jerrod's brow furrowed. "Oh. Weren't you a corporal then?"

"Under cover," Captain Appelbaum clarified. "There was a... an important asset I was tasked with investigating."

"Shoulda stuck around here when it got heavy," Jerrod remarked.

Paul looked down, then away, and finally back at Jerrod. "Actually, son, my recon into Columbus is why we had to sweep through and retake the city. Trust me, I know it wasn't a joy."

"Sir," Sergeant Wells spoke up, and nudged Jerrod while standing and offering his salute. "My apologies."

Jerrod, Leonard, and Tanner followed suit, though Jerrod's heart just wasn't in it. "Sorry sir."

Paul stood up long enough to return the salute, but dropped back down as though he were about to comfort kids who'd scraped their knee. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes sir," Jerrod replied.

"In your debrief a couple months ago," Captain Appelbaum started, "You said that while trying to put out the blue fire on Leonard here that you thought you heard words from the flames. Could you make them out?"

"Like," Jerrod paused and searched Leonard's face before continuing, "Like the fire was cussin' me out. Pissed, because I was trying to extinguish it. Not words exactly, but-- as if it would've had harsh words with me for killin' it."

"But you couldn't understand exactly what?" Appelbaum asked.

Jerrod just shook his head and gazed off at the many columns of smoke ever rising to the sky. "I don't know. Still think it was my imagination."

"Captain, was all this for another one of your 'assets'?" Tanner asked with barely hidden scorn. "We were told that civvies were evacuated before we showed up."

Sergeant Wells at first seemed to scowl at Tanner, but a quick glance to Appelbaum resulted in Wells visibly letting that slide.

"You guys don't need to believe it right now," Appelbaum prefaced his next words, "but you saved a lot of people. Should be proud of that. Thanks for your time. I'll give you some space."

With that, Captain Appelbaum got up, surprisingly quiet for a guy weighing possibly as much as a ton, and he walked away with his helmet and rifle in his hands.

"'Should be,'" Jerrod repeated, but wasn't feeling proud. "I guess that'll come later."


End file.
